RPHQ February 2016 Spotlight

Quote of the Month

Whenever you take on playing a villain, he has to cease to be a villain to you

— Colin Firth

Art

Roleplaying is an art. Displaying what our endless imaginations conjure is an important component of our gaming, whether it be through paintings, the graphic art of online games, or photographs. Enjoy the art we're featuring this month, and I hope it moves your imagination to new destinations!

Caroline Gariba is a freelance illustrator based in Brazil. She works for advertising, publishing media, and games.

Featured Article

Character Spotlights

Need to come up with some quick traits for your NPC's, or just want to add some depth to your own character? At the Roleplaying Tips Blog, they have compiled a list of 1000 traits for your NPC or PC! Just roll a d1000 for one or a couple of traits. Challenge yourself and see how easily you can adapt these to your characters!

Character challenge: Roll for one or two traits and tell us how you used them! Was it for an NPC, a PC? A newly formed character or one who's been around awhile?

What's the most interesting character you've ever encountered in rp and why?

Bonaventura, Good Fortune. The vampire of nightmares is without a doubt the most interesting character I’ve encountered before. Speaking only through telepathy, she is so old as to have forgotten her voice. Attuned to nightmares she is a being of intoxicating terror. Beautiful and enigmatic she has a way of entrancing every character who comes into contact with her on a level I’ve not seen before. Her story, which I will not give any spoilers to for the lucky ones who manage to cross her path, is heartbreaking and beautiful all at once, keeping you trapped on the edge of your seat waiting for every word. She is a character, who from her introduction into the story lines we ran, has constantly made me want another meeting.

— Costello

Which of your characters is your favorite, and why?

My favorite role-play playthrough was a humble Imperial who was the farthest thing from a hero. He was ugly, he was cowardly, and he’d never held a weapon in his life. All he wanted was to survive, preferably in a comfortable manner.

He’d work menial labor jobs at first, to afford nightly inn payments and food. During the day, he’d strike out into the wilderness to scavenge what he could. Mostly herbs and mushrooms, but sometimes he’d get lucky and stumble on the aftermath of some bloody conflict. If he was feeling brave, he’d poke his head into caves or ruins, but would turn tail at the first sign of danger.

Eventually, he was rich enough to buy a mercenary for protection. He could explore farther, walk to different Holds. He was getting richer and richer, started dabbling in Alchemy, sold potions instead of just herbs. Finally, he got a house... a spouse... a child... The run ended when I finished building a Hearthfire home, which included a self-sustaining farm for food. It was all very immersive and fun, really. Especially because I was playing perma-death on Legendary difficulty!

— Secret Wizard, Skyrim

Make sure to share your answers to these questions on the forums here!

Music

Enjoy our featured music, and submit inspiring and fun music to the forums for everyone to enjoy!

RP COMMUNITIES

LARP

Battle for the Ring happened last month in California and was a great success! Here's a a couple videos from the event:

Upcoming Events

Saracor invites you to join us for our first camping event, Phoenix Rising III which also has the privilege of hosting this year's Fools' Raid! This will be a three day, two night camping event held at San Lorenzo Park in King City, in central California.

Apr 1 at 9 AM to Apr 3 at 12 PM in PDT

The Battle of Andor VIII: Samurai Showdown!Treachery! Dishonor! Lots and lots of angry faces and yelling!The land is in turmoil! The Shogun is dead, killed by a Ninja's poisoned dart! The Emperor is powerless as the Daimyo fight to claim the title. One Daimyo, more ambitious and driven than the rest, seeks to prove his loyalty to the Emperor by claiming the head of the Ninja Grand Master. The Samurai army has traveled deep into the mountains, to the heart of the Ninja lands, and up to the very steps of the Ninja Temple! Will this be the end of the Ninja Clan? What dark powers lie hidden in the Ninja Temple? Will there be any real fighting, or will everyone be too busy doing dramatic, cool poses!?

Morley Field Sports Complex, San Diego, CA

Saturday, March 19th, 8am -6pm PDT

Enjoy the first season of LARPs below, by Geek & Sundry

Noctus steals the Eleventh Eye, but all is not right. . . In a LARP, or live action-roleplaying game, players assume the identity of their chosen character and physically perform their actions (as opposed to simply describing them). LARPs: The Series follows a group of friends and their journey through both their imaginary and real lives.

TABLETOP

Chuck Wendig is a novelist, screenwriter, and game designer. This is his blog. He talks a lot about writing. And food. And pop culture. And his kid. He uses lots of naughty language. NSFW. Probably NSFL. Be advised.

MMORPG

The time has come for Black Marsh to have the epic plotline it deserves! I’ve been planning it since before the game was released and many, many story threads have come together in the shadows since then. This is a plot of mystery and intrigue, of existential questions asked through the eyes of the Saxhleel and the Hist. Yes, there will be action and most certainly conflict, but it’s my hope that this will be a more thoughtful story rather than another big war.

There are a few hints scattered across our community rumor mills. The Argonians of the Banescale Fellowship and several others throughout Pact lands have heard other whispers of the coming tide as well.

There are ways your main or alts could get involved. Alternatively, we’re going to need a lot of redshirts and also still have a few open roles left for people interested in playing a more major NPC. If you’re interested shoot me an enjin message or post here and I’ll message you!

Hail Sithis

— TheHumanFloyd

RP ADVICE

Dropping an rp partner/Leaving an rp group

There are many reasons why someone may want to drop their partner or leave their group:

• Not being comfortable with their writing style• Partner/group members being clingy, rude, lacking in activity…a million things could go here.• You don’t like where the plot is going and your partner doesn’t want to change it.• You’ve lost interest• You don’t like the way the group communicates• You don’t like the way the group is run• You don’t like the level of activity• You’ve found that the group just isn’t for you• ANY NUMBER OF THINGS

Understand that, for whatever reason, it’s okay to drop a group or an rp partner. It’s also good to know that you do not have to explain yourself. However, it’s important to let the admins know, instead of disappearing, slowly drifting out, etc. because it allows them to immediately post for a replacement rather than think that you’re going to return at some point. Be sure to tell your them. Disappearing, leaving someone hanging without word is truly unkind and can leave your partner/group feeling even more hurt than if you had said something.

— Excerpt from the FYRP Advice Column

Do you have insight or advice for this question? Let us hear what you think here.

ARCHITECT SPOTLIGHT

Molever1ne from EVE has compiled the following list of MMO's that offer player housing:

FFXIV, though it’s hard to getArcheage, though it’s nearly impossible to getStar Wars: The Old RepublicWildstarDragon ProphetRIFTAIONBlack Desert OnlinePhantasy Star Online 2 - You only get a room.Everquest 2TROVELOTRORunescapeEVE Online (if you tilt your head to the side and squint, space stations can be housing)

— molever1ne

Housing interior from Aion

Jaida, a player in Rift, used the items available for the player dimensions and their great skill and imagination to bring us a Galaxy Class Starship!

RPHQ's PREVIOUS CONTENT

10 (Small) RP Features for ESO - TheHumanFloyd will be releasing a video featuring 10 (relatively small) additions Zenimax could make to The Elder Scrolls Online which would benefit roleplayers in particular - (should be out by the time you post, Feb 12th is my plan!)

Pagan Rock'n'Roleplay - Journey into the woods with Dyna, Taage and Floyd as they discuss spirituality in roleplay and speak to Stone (aka Urox), a Norse Pagan roleplayer. Afterwards, the White Falls storyline continues as the characters attempt to discover the truth about the unnatural horrors lurking in the shadows of their town!

Character Concepts: The Wizard - Ma1function begins his series on wizards by introducing the archetype itself. He discusses typical traits, where they come from, and what purpose they serve to their story!

Roleplaying: The Wizard - Ma1function continues the wand waving with practical advice on how to actually roleplay a wizard, now that we've been introduced to them. He uses examples from his own roleplay as Argonian Wizard Sees-In-Shadow from ESO!

Combat Roleplay 185: Actions, Interaction, Time-Scaling With Focus on Realism - Dominator046 takes us again into the battlefield with his ongoing series on combat RP. This time he talks about timing in RP fights and all that goes into each decision made in such a battle!

RPHQ's UPCOMING CONTENT

Next RnRP - The next episode of Rock'n'Roleplay will examine a study which suggests that roleplayers are more empathetic than your average person. We will also continue the White Falls RP, in which we will see the results of Brenda's most recent prophesy. Don't forget you'll be entered in a chance to win a CD if you leave a comment on the previous episode! - Feb 27th

Next Lore Implications - Forgotten Realms lore may yet be further examined in the second release for this new podcast. However, Warhammer Fantasy also marches on the horizon!

RPing in MMOs: A Beginners Guide Part III - The final edition of the MMO roleplaying guide. This part discusses what to do once you know the basics of RP, but want to take your story further. It is titled, Turn the Page!